Putin Orders Import Bans on Products From Sanctioning Countries

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree banning or limiting imports of agricultural products from countries that have placed sanctions on Russia.

Russian state media announced the move Wednesday, saying Putin has ordered his government to decide on a list of import products to be banned in Russia for the next year. Putin did not specify particular products in his decree.

The United States and European Union have placed economic sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and supplying pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with weapons and other support.

Meanwhile, Putin's approval rating reached 87 percent in a poll conducted Aug. 1 through 4 by the independent Levada Center, up from 85 percent in July. His presidential approval rating in Levada Center polling hit 87 percent just once before -- in December 2007. Putin's approval rating during his tenure as prime minister reached 88 percent in September 2008.

The Levada Center also found anti-American sentiment in Russia is at a record high. In a poll it conducted July 18-21, 34 percent of the respondents described their feelings toward the United States as "mostly bad" and 40 percent as "very bad."